Knowledge Universe sets education trend across Asia
Discovery Reports
Infused with fun and play, learning can be an exciting experience for children. The longing to discover new things with their newfound friends replaces their scepticism about school. Such is the approach of Brighton Montessori, which imparts a love of learning using personalised one-on-one teaching.
The school, together with Odyssey, Pat's Schoolhouse and Learning Vision, represents the most innovative early childhood education standards in Singapore under global education leader, Knowledge Universe.
"We have all the best brands," says June Rusdon, CEO of Knowledge Universe Southeast Asia and founder of Learning Vision. "While we offer all these programmes, we have one objective. We want the children to enjoy learning and it is evidently more important to inculcate the love for learning than being fixated on the outcome in these foundation years."
Promoting holistic lifelong education, Learning Vision is the preferred choice of employer-sponsored childcare solutions for banks, airports, hospitals and other companies. Pat's Schoolhouse incorporates full bilingual immersion using English and Putonghua, while Odyssey focuses on a Reggio-inspired, learner-centric approach in a cross-cultural setting. Odyssey is also an International Baccalaureate World School.
Knowledge Universe has successfully introduced its systems to other Asian countries. Learning Vision operates childcare centres for a major government body in Malaysia, and multinational companies in Bangalore. Leveraging its global network and local expertise, Knowledge Universe plans to replicate these successes in Indonesia, Hong Kong, the mainland and deeper into India in the next three years through potential partnerships with like-minded groups.
Collaboration with other leading local educational institutions in the region that share its philosophy is an essential strategy for Knowledge Universe. It is exploring potential ventures with one of the largest childcare centres in India, and a prominent employer-sponsored childcare centre in Hong Kong.
"Our whole approach to developing the business is about hand picking the best in the market, focusing on institutions that stand out with innovative and cutting-edge practices," Rusdon says. "We then formulate customised solutions to address the needs of our customers and partners, adding value to what they have."
Knowledge Universe is also keen to collaborate with property developers and owners on greenfield projects with the potential partner providing the land while Knowledge Universe offers the education expertise.
"It's about striking a balance with the right partners to ensure success," Rusdon says.
To deliver the best education to its students, Knowledge Universe produces the finest teachers through its in-house teachers' training institution, Asian International College (AIC). The college is one of only two schools endorsed as a programme partner for providing early childhood education by the Workforce Development Agency, Singapore's training arm. Complete with an accredited examination board, AIC has trained over 5,000 teachers from Singapore, Malaysia, China and India, including those outside Knowledge Universe.
Teachers also benefit from the transfer of knowledge through study visits to any of Knowledge Universe's 3,000 locations worldwide. Knowledge Universe allocates at least 5 per cent of overall expenditures on training, charts the teachers' future career paths and offers hands-on experience from a spectrum of teaching programmes available under Knowledge Universe's global school network.
"Human capital is our biggest asset," Rusdon says. "We train and groom our teachers because we want to give them the best possible education and career." As a result, Knowledge Universe continues to enjoy a low teacher turnover of only half of the industry norm.
"We have to keep setting trends and be the thought leader in our industry," Rusdon says. "We want to ensure that anything new about learning will come from us. That's the energy and excitement we want to create among our people. Success is a journey."
Knowledge Universe Southeast Asia
Website: www.kueducation.com
